Turning Red is the newest animated coming-of-age film from Walt Disney and Pixar Studios. Domee Shi, a Pixar creative artist making her directorial debut, directed the film, which offers a message for both children and adults. Turning Red, from the makers of Inside Out, is a new deep dive into the realm of emotions, with a novel take on what it means to be cool.
Follow Mei on her quest to be true to herself, understand her feelings, and achieve independence as her overbearing but loving mother keeps an eye on her. This family-friendly picture will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy inside, with themes of ordinary teen concerns wrapped in a not-so-common supernatural surprise.
When Is Turning Red coming out?
The mysterious, uplifting film will be released on March 11, 2022, according to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, with the date confirmed by the most recent trailer.
Take a look at Turning Red Trailer
In November 2021, Pixar unveiled the official trailer for Turning Red, which included funky 2000s trends as well as some extremely amazing retro music.
Watch the trailer here.
What’s the story behind Turning Red?
Meilin “Mei” Lee is a thirteen-year-old maths whiz who is incredibly driven and fearless to be herself. Mei is a sophisticated, intelligent young girl with her flute abilities and academic zeal. Secret handshakes, environmental demonstrations, and a passion for the greatest boy band of all time, 4*Town, unite this incredibly cool middle schooler and her three best pals. Most importantly, even when things get a bit hairy, the girls adore each other through thick and thin.
There’s a lot more to “beautiful little Mei-Mei,” as she’ll soon discover more. Mei has a remarkable change one fatal night, and she wakes up mysteriously transformed into a gigantic red panda. While Mei is taken aback by her new look, her parents were expecting this to happen.
Mei discovers that her family has a mysterious link to red pandas. Turning into one run in their family, she must regulate her emotions in order to control the shift. Isn’t that something that shouldn’t be a problem? Thirteen-year-olds are fantastic at managing their emotions, especially given the pressures of school and the upcoming concert of a lifetime! Most thirteen-year-olds deal with a few physical changes, but Mei is an entirely different story.
While attempting to maintain her composure, Mei discovers that she enjoys her new self and, rather than trying to suppress her emotions, she embraces them, learning about her emotions and the power of feeling them along the way. The greater lesson of the film is that you are not alone. And instead of bottling up your emotions you can turn them into superpowers and do something incredible.
When and where does Turning Red take place?
According to Mei’s school ID and the Y2K sticker on her flute case, Turning Red takes place in Toronto, Canada, between the years 2002 and 2003. Along with 2000s fashion, Tamagotchis, and the boy band mania, the film is expected to have some spectacular retro lingo and early 2000s music. Songs from real-life boy bands *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys have been used in the sneak peeks thus far.
Who is in the Turning Red voice cast?
Rosalie Chiang, a young newcomer best known for her performance as the protagonist in 2018 short Soiled, plays the clever and energetic Mei. Chiang’s first voice acting role is in Turning Red.
Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy) co-stars with Chiang in the film. Oh is Mei’s overprotective mother, Ming Lee, who attempts to keep a constant check on her strong-willed and confident daughter.
Orion Lee, who is well recognized for his portrayal as King-Lu in the 2019 film First Cow, plays Mei’s father Jin Lee. Lee has also appeared in a number of action films, including The Last Jedi and Skyfall.
Miriam, Mei’s beatboxing, brace-faced bestie, is played by Ava Morse. Morse’s most recent appearance was in the animated feature Ron’s Gone Wrong, in which he voiced a science-loving character.
Priya, Mei’s deadpan, too cool friend, is played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who is best known for her role as Devi Vishwakumar in the adolescent drama Netflix series Never Have I Ever.
Abby, Mei’s tough and energetic purple-clad companion, is voiced by Hyein Park, who thinks Mei in her panda form is “so cute!” Park has previously worked as a storyboard artist for numerous animated films, including Disney’s Toy Story 4 and Soul. This is his debut acting performance. Park is an animation narrative artist for Turning Red in addition to giving her voice to the film.
Jordan Fisher, noted for his role as the love interest in the Netflix film To All The Boys: I Still Love You, voices the members of the boy band 4*Town. Josh Levi is a finalist on the musical competition show X-Factor, which you may remember. Topher Ngo is a bass singer and aspiring actor whose first acknowledged acting job was in Turning Red. Grayson Villanueva is an actor and vocalist best known for playing Manny’s roommate in the sitcom Modern Family. Finally, Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Finneas O’Connell will create songs for the boy band to play in the film with his sister, award-winning singer/songwriter Billie Eilish.
Where to watch Turning Red?
Disney announced that Turning Red would be released in theatres after almost two years of straight-to-stream premieres. Unfortunately, the studio reversed that statement in early January, stating that Turning Red will only be available to stream from home on the Disney+ streaming service, where it is likely to be part of their exclusive Premier Access service, which costs an extra $29.99 per month on top of the standard monthly subscription fee.